Milgram's Study of Obedience - Key Vocabulary

## Milgram's Study of Obedience

• Conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1963, aimed to explore the extent to which individuals would obey an authority figure, even when asked to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience.

Background

• Draws on Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments, demonstrating how group influence can lead to conformity.
  • Conformity: The change in an individual’s behavior to align with group norms.
  • Asch's findings:
  • 37% conformity on target trials.
  • 75% conforming on at least one trial.
  • Normative influence led to public conformity in subjects.
  • The Holocaust provides historical context for examining obedience, particularly in relation to Adolf Eichmann's actions.

Key Concepts

• Destructive Obedience: Following orders resulting in harm to others.
• Agency Theory:
  • Individuals operate under an 'agentic state' when they defer responsibility to authority figures.
  • In contrast, an 'autonomous state' involves individual responsibility for actions.

Purpose of the Study

• To evaluate obedience levels when participants were instructed to administer electric shocks to another person (the "learner").
• To address whether individuals like Eichmann were merely following orders.

Sample

• 40 male participants aged 20-50, drawn from New Haven.
• Varied occupational backgrounds, recruited through newspaper advertisements, indicating a volunteer sample method.
  • Ethical consideration: paid subjects ($4.50) might influence participation and results.

Procedure

• Experimental Setup:
  • Participants played the role of "Teacher" while a confederate (learner) was strapped to an electric chair.
  • The teacher administered increasing shocks for incorrect answers, starting from 15 volts to potentially lethal 450 volts.
  • Use of a shock generator as a manipulative tool, progressively increasing voltage with each mistake.
  • If the teacher hesitated, prod statements encouraged continuation.

Results

• High obedience levels observed:
  • 100% of participants went to at least 300 volts.
  • 65% continued to the maximum shock level (450 volts).
• Signs of extreme tension noted:
  • Participants exhibited signs of stress (sweating, trembling, laughter) throughout the process.
  • 3 participants experienced seizures, indicating severe emotional strain.

Discussion and Conclusions

• The findings highlight the power of authority in fostering compliance, even against moral objections.
• Although participants experienced high levels of stress, they complied with authority, raising ethical questions about such experimental designs.
• Milgram's results challenge the notion of dispositional traits (e.g., "Germans are different") in understanding obedience, emphasizing the role of situational factors.

Applications and Implications

• Milgram’s findings can be applied to understand compliance in various real-world settings, including military, workplace, and societal structures where authority and obedience play significant roles.

Critical Evaluation

• Discussion about ecological validity of the study’s artificial nature and potential demand characteristics, combined with the quantitative and qualitative aspects of data collection.
• Ethical concerns regarding participant deception and psychological harm during the study.
• Reliability and generalizability, with findings suggesting a high level of obedience across diverse sample groups despite ethical issues.

Unresolved Questions

• Consider implications of situational factors on behavior in contemporary society.
• Discuss potential for replicating Milgram’s study under modern ethical guidelines.

Suggested Questions for Further Reflection

1. How did participant recruitment influence the results?
2. What measures could be taken to reduce psychological stress in future experiments on obedience?
3. How does understanding obedience help in preventing situations akin to the Holocaust?